Road vehicles come in various forms and sizes. Although the general character is that of a body and four wheels, features such as length, height and width together with such details as the type and placement of doors vary to a large extent among the road vehicles. For example, road vehicles that may be designated as station wagons or sport utility vehicles (SUV) are relatively large and are of significant height in order to accommodate a plurality of passengers and bulky items such as baggage. The typical configuration of such road vehicles is also such that the side doors are arranged at a height above the ground upon which the vehicle is parked that they can swing out without risk of hitting a curb when the road vehicle is parked along a street that is lined by a curb or similar lining.
On the other hand, a typical sports car is, in contrast to a station wagon or SUV, a low riding vehicle having a high power engine. A sport car is also, needless to say, typically very expensive both in terms of initial cost of purchase but also expensive in terms of service and, in particular, cost of repairing a damaged part of the car. Hence, the particular fact that a sports car is low riding has a direct impact on the risk of a side door being damaged by hitting a curb when the door is opened and swings out, with the subsequent expensive repairs.
The risk of damaging a passenger door of a sports car has been recognized, since long and various attempts have been made in order to reduce such a risk. One example of such attempts is that some sports cars have been configured with side doors that, during a procedure of opening the door, the door swings out from the body of the car a very limited distance before rotating around an axis that is essentially perpendicular to the plane of the door. Such a door is connected to the body of the vehicle by means of a single door hinge that allows transverse movement in combination with rotational movement of the door, that provide a reduced risk of damaging the door by hitting a curb by the side of which the vehicle is parked. However, sports car development is such that there is an ever increasing desire to provide vehicles having low profiles, and as a consequence, having side doors with lowermost parts that are placed at extremely short distances from the ground. Consequently, there is a continued need to provide arrangements that allow doors, in particular side doors, of road vehicles to open without being damaged as a result of hitting a curb.